Roxanne Dubois

Roxanne Dubois is a union activist, reader, and writer based in Toronto. Every Friday, she publishes an email newsletter called vendredi français which shares original writings and francophone content from all over the web.

Read and subscribe at http://www.vendredifrancais.ca or catch her on twitter at @roxannedubois.

Book Review: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Book Review: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

It is a strange experience to be in the midst of reading an excellent dystopic novel when the world around you keeps showing signs that it is coming apart at the seems. Just last week, in real life, we followed the news of children being torn away from their parents and kept in child detention centres in the United States. Meanwhile, I was immersed in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, a novel where a young woman struggles through a time of environmental depletion and fatal wealth inequality that is set in …2024. Butler's portrayal of what we could call a future that is too close for comfort rings so true today.

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Reading the #WorldCup | Roxanne Dubois

Football fans across the globe are focused on the World Cup, which started just over a week ago and is hosted in Russia. The tournament takes place every four years, and will be, as always, one of the most watched sporting events of the year. For this non-sports fan, the World Cup is an object of fascination with good timing. In these early days of summer, watching football and getting into the game is a welcome distraction. Here is a short, global, and somewhat political reading list for following the World Cup.

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Classique parmi les classiques : Les liaisons dangereuses de Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Classique parmi les classiques : Les liaisons dangereuses de Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Il s'agit d'un exploit non négligeable que celui d'écrire un roman épistolaire où la trame narrative se développe entièrement au fil de lettres écrites d'un personnage à l'autre. Sur les quelque 600 pages du livre Les liaisons dangereuses, plus de 175 lettres tracent le portrait de relations troubles entre membres de la bourgeoisie française du 18e siècle. Rusé, malveillant et éperdument délicieux, ce roman occupe une place bien méritée parmi les rangs de la grande littérature française.

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Lectures d'hiver

Lectures d'hiver

Le printemps tarde à réchauffer ma ville, et j'en profite pour partager mes lectures francophones des derniers mois. Je vous souhaite de trouver ici quelques suggestions pour vos lectures printanières – le beau temps se pointera bien un jour ou l'autre.

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Book review: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Book review: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

For the first time in what feels like a long while, I finished a recent and popular book. Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere came out in September 2017 and an announcement earlier this month confirmed its TV adaptation in the near future. Set in Shaker Heights, Ohio, this novel tells the story of one suburban family confronted with the arrival of a mother and daughter to their rental unit. Nostalgic children of the '90s, be warned: this book hits all the right notes.

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Book Review: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Book Review: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver was published almost 10 years ago, but that's no reason to leave it unread. In this epic novel, a young writer grows up in Mexico City, takes a job as a cook and dreams of becoming a writer. The historical context and characters give this book an intrigue worth pursuing.

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Book Review: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Book Review: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy's second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, was much anticipated in 2017. I kept hearing about the author, peeking into her non-fiction work, and I decided to read her first, well-known novel before diving into the current one. I began 2018 by reading The God of Small Things, a book published in 1996 and winner of the Booker prize in 1997. It's an epic story about twins growing up in India, and the bits of life that change their course.

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